Gérard Prunier (born 14 October 1942 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) is a French academic, historian, and consultant. He specializes in African history and affairs —particularly the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

and the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...

regions.

Biography

Prunier received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in African History in 1981 from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, spending a year at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and a stay in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. In 1984, he joined the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

scientific institution in

as a researcher. He later also became Director of the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

. Prunier has published over 120 articles and five books. He is fluent in his native French, as well as English and Spanish. He also has good knowledge of Italian and German, and a basic knowledge of

Juba Arabic Juba Arabic (, ; ), also known since 2011 as South Sudanese Arabic, is a lingua franca spoken mainly in Equatoria Province in South Sudan, and derives its name from the South Sudanese capital, Juba. It is also spoken among communities of people ...

(South Sudanese colloquial Arabic) and Swahili.

Published works

;Books * ''Les Ethnies ont une histoire'' (ed. with ), Paris : Karthala, 1989, * ''L'Ouganda et la question indienne : 1896-1972'', Paris : Editions Recherche sur les civilisations, 1990 * ''The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide'',

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

, 1995, * ''Le Kenya contemporain'', (ed. with François Grignon), Paris : Karthala & Nairobi : IFRA, 1998, * ''Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide'',

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...

, 2005, * ''L'Éthiopie contemporaine'' (director), CFEE-Karthala, Addis Abeba and Paris, 2007, *:with Ficquet, Éloi. ''Understanding contemporary Ethiopia'', L.:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2015 — english edition * '' From Genocide to Continental War: The 'Congolese' Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa'', C. Hurst & Co., 2009, *:Published in the US as ''Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of Continental Catastrophe'',

, 2009, * ''Urgence Darfour'' with Morad El Hattab (direction), André Glucksmann, Bernard Kouchner, Bernard-Henri Lévy, , , Rossin Richard, Philippe Val, Paris: Des idées & des hommes, 2007 * ''The Country That Does Not Exist: A History of Somaliland'' — New York: Oxford University Press, 2021 * ''Colonialism Devours Itself: The Waning of Françafrique'' — Hurst Publishers, 2024, ;Articles *
Burundi: A Manageable Crisis?
, WRITENET (UK), October 1994 *
Sudan’s regional war
, '' Le Monde diplomatique'', February 1997 * "Rwanda: the Social, Political and Economic Situation", WRITENET (UK), June 1997 *
Somaliland, a forgotten country
, ''Le Monde diplomatique'', October 1997 *
Uganda, nearly a miracle
, ''Le Monde diplomatique'', February 1998 *
Somalia re-invents itself
, ''Le Monde diplomatique'', April 2000 *
Sudan: irreconcilable differences
''Le Monde diplomatique'', December 2002 * "Did Somebody Say Genocide?: Gérard Prunier on Darfur", ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'', August 2006 *
Darfur's Sudan problem
, OpenDemocracy.net, 15 September 2006
The Ethio-Eritrean Conflict: An Essay in Interpretation Armed Movements in Sudan, Chad, CAR, Somalia Eritrea and Ethiopia

From Fatigues to Three-Piece Suits: East African Guerrillas in Power

Why did South Sudan blow up in December 2013 and what is likely to happen as a result?

References

External links

* Fergal Keane
Interview of Prunier on the Rwandan Genocide
PBS's '' Frontline'' (early 1997)
Gerard Prunier on 'la francophonie' under threat
at ''Just World News'' blog with Helena Cobban, 31 May 2004 *
Articles by Prunier
at

openDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage d ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prunier, Gerard 1942 births Living people French scholars Historians of Africa Historians of Kenya University of Paris alumni People of the Rwandan genocide People of the War in Darfur